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<h1>Convex hull</h1>

<p>CoppeliaSim allows calculating and adding the convex hull of specified <a href="objects.htm">objects</a>. The convex hull of a collection of meshes is the smallest convex envelope that encompasses all meshes. CoppeliaSim allows extracting the convex hull of <a href="measurableObjects.htm">measurable objects</a> only. The calculated convex hull might not be &quot;water-tight&quot; (i.e. might contain overlapping triangles or non-shared edges), thus the shape will not be marked as convex. You can however run a <a href="convexDecomposition.htm">convex decomposition function</a> on the generated shape. </p>

<p>To add a convex hull, select objects that you want to have included in the convex hull and select [Menu bar --&gt; Add --&gt; Convex hull of selection]<br>
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<p>Depending on situations, convex hulls can drastically reduce calculation times in case of <a href="distanceCalculation.htm">distance calculations</a> or <a href="proximitySensors.htm">proximity sensor</a> simulations for instance. <a href="collisionDetection.htm">Collision detection</a> can also be performed faster if a rougher approximation (i.e. the convex hull) of a complex <a href="shapes.htm">shape</a> is used instead. One can also extract the convex hull of a <a href="models.htm">model</a> (e.g. robot), then make it invisible, but perform all calculations (collision detection, distance calculations, etc.) using the invisible convex hull instead of the complex model.<br>
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<p align=center><img src="images/convexHull.jpg"></p>
<p class=imageLabel>[Objects forming a robot model (left) and corresponding simplified representation as convex hull (right)]</p>

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